A significantly updated Capital Transit bus schedule will go into effect on Monday, November 7, with the opening of the new Valley Transit Center (VTC) on Mendenhall Mall Road.

The opening of the Valley Transit Center, which will be the new bus transfer location for Valley routes, has created a valuable opportunity to make long-overdue updates to ensure reliable and consistent service for all passengers on all routes. The regular schedules haven’t been updated since 2016.  Time stops in the current schedule are no longer realistic and buses frequently run late, causing passengers to miss transfers or arrive later than expected.

Accordingly, Capital Transit spent months planning, gathering feedback from riders, hosting open houses, gathering feedback from bus drivers, and obtaining input from an objective transit planning contractor to update the schedule within our existing budget and staffing.  The overwhelming majority (76%) of the 363 bus passengers surveyed prefer a simpler network with more consistent service and more reliable transfers to a more complex network with more “specialty” commuter routes (24%).  Capital Transit has incorporated this feedback into the updated schedule.

The upcoming bus schedule changes will go into effect on November 7.  Printed schedules with the updates are available on the buses now.  Links to the new schedule are included at the bottom of this page.

A summary of the changes compared to our current service is listed below: 

• Core Service (Routes 1, 3, 4) is similar to the current schedules, except:
  • Mendenhall Loop Counterclockwise Route 3 and Mendenhall Loop Clockwise Route 4 will remain on Glacier Highway through the Lemon Creek area but will no longer make stops on Davis Avenue and Lemon Creek Road, where less than 2% of riders get on or off the bus.  This trade off will result in decreased travel times and more reliable transfers for a much larger number of passengers who ride the Route 3 or 4.  In addition, service has been increased for the Route 7, which has stops on Davis Avenue and Lemon Creek Road.
  • Mendenhall Loop Clockwise Route 4 includes new morning inbound and outbound runs Monday through Friday.
• Express and Commuter routes:
  • University Express Routes 5 and Riverside Express Route 6 will now only operate in the Valley, and will be timed to make transfers to/from the Downtown/Valley Express Route 8 at the VTC. (Please note that during the current driver shortage, the routes 5, 6, and 8 only operate during peak morning and afternoon periods.)
  • Lemon Creek Express Route 7, which stops on Davis Avenue and Lemon Creek Road, includes additional trips from downtown in the afternoon and early evening.
  • Downtown/Valley Express Route 8 routing and timing has been adjusted, and includes additional inbound and outbound trips Monday – Friday, improved service to the popular Fred Meyer bus stop, and transfers at the VTC to the University Connector Route 5 and Riverside/Airport Connector Route 6. (Please note that during the current driver shortage, the routes 5, 6, and 8 only operate during peak morning and afternoon periods.)
  • Mendenhall Valley Express Route 9 has been changed to the Egan Express, running several morning and afternoon trips between the VTC and Downtown Transit Center.
  • Mendenhall Valley Commuter Route 10 has changed to the Taku Commuter, and includes several morning runs to the VTC where passengers can then connect to the Route 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and/or 9 buses.
  • Douglas to Valley Express Route 11, North Douglas Route 12, Mendenhall/Riverside Commuter Route 14, Valley/UAS Express Route 15, and Taku Express Route 16 have been eliminated. Portions of Routes 11, 14, 15, and 16 have been incorporated into other new or updated routes.

For more information about bus route changes, contact Matt Carpenter at Capital Transit at (907) 789-6901.  For more information about the VTC facility, contact Alec Venechuk at (907) 586-0800 ext. 4187.

See the PDFs below for more detailed route and schedule information.